lazycow54

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i was wondering if anyone has tried carbon fiber instead of fiberglass on a hull?
might try it

biteme

Nobody that I have heard of,...should be like working with fiberglass cloth, yes? If I remember correctly, carbon fiber is a little more directional, and would need several laminations in different directions (at least for military aircraft) but might work well for the small areas we are using. Where do you get ahold of such stuff?

lazycow54

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found it on www.artshobby.com

gottagofaster

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you can also buy it on ebay. I've toyed with the idea, but when i needed to buy cloth i couldn't afford it.

The guy on ebay has been selling "slightly imperfect" stuff. Unless you are going for teh carbon fiber look, it would work well for a hull

asmithnc

Carbon look good but I think it may be a waste of money. Kevlar would be an great improvement over s glass. Kevlar is highly resistant to cuts and thats what you need if you do alot of ground running. Kevlar, carbon and s glass all use that same epoxy resin.

To do proper carbon you need a vacuum bag system. The strength comes from the media not the resin. Same for kevlar and s glass.

biteme

The strenghth is dependant on both. It is the matrix of the two that is stronger than either. Yes, a stronger componant (carbon vs. glass) will make the overall structure stronger, but also, bad resin job can make it a lot weaker. Similar to metalurgy - steel is iron with carbon added to form a more stable matrix - it comes out harder because of the way the molecules fit together ( adding other metals will enhance this further, like molyblendum, chromium - you've heard of chro-moly steel? - good stuff) it is the resin between the fibers ( again carbon, glass) that makes it more rigid - harder.
Also in general, don't just think in terms of strength/weight ratios. carbon fiber can be harder, and therefore more brittle( again depending on resin) My brother tried to use carbon fiber rods on his boat, very light, but they kept snapping. This is one reason I preferr epoxy to polyesther, polyesther cures harder, and is much more brittle, epoxy gives better.

dadkins

I have seen carbon fibre as well as kevlar at my local hooby shop. usually in strips - for leading edges of wings, boat keels I guess - not even that expensive-but not enough to cover an airboat hull.

gottagofaster

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here is a buy it now on ebay for what it's worth...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...sPageName=WDVW